Applications have been established for X-ray diffraction methods as methods for identifying an unknown crystalline sample or for measuring a part of a large sample or a sample mounted on a substrate varying in kind. Under the circumstances, request has been growing larger for measuring devices which can be used outdoor to perform functions of analyzing devices which used to be used indoors. Thanks to the progress of electronic technology in recent years, power supply units and control circuits have been made smaller, lighter, and less power consuming. General X-ray diffraction methods, however, pose a problem that, when a sample is shifted out of position, their measurement accuracy or sensitivity is degraded. Hence, X-ray diffraction measurements have been performed using a mechanical angle measuring device called a goniometer to keep a sample correctly positioned.
As for the existing methods, the non-patent literature 1, for example, describes a measuring device which uses a goniometer to movably keep a sample, an X-ray source, and a detector in position. The patent literature 1, on the other hand, discloses a portable X-ray diffraction apparatus aimed at measuring X-ray diffraction at a specific part of a sample.
Also, in the non-patent literature 2, an X-ray diffraction measurement method is described in which an X-ray detector capable of X-ray photon energy analysis is used and in which no X-ray angle measuring device is used.